It was the Gr1 winning chestnut daughter of Byword who proved the star of the show, with Camphoratus winning several awards including Champion Middle Distance Female, Champion Older Female and KZN Breeders Horse Of The Year.

Her dam, imported Horse Chestnut mare Wild Camphor, was crowned Broodmare Of The Year. The latter only produced two foals at stud – the first a winner and the second and last was Camphoratus, who interestingly only sold for R50 000 at the KZN Yearling Sale.

Her breeders, Rob and Michele Pickering who have since relocated to the Eastern Cape, retained a share in her and Robbie Hill has achieved great success – winning not only the Gr1 Empress Club Stakes, but the Gr3 Flamboyant and placing second to her nemesis, Running Brave, in the Gr2 Gold Bracelet. Running Brave took home the Champion 3YO Filly award, and ran a close second to Camphoratus in the Gr1 Empress Club Stakes.

Wave, a Scott Bros-bred son of Mogok who placed in a Gr1 at Scottsville, interestingly was purchased off the KZN Yearling Sale for R100 000 using vouchers won from the 2018 KZN Breeders Golf Day by the Van Zyls!

Another stud to feature prominently was that of Graystone Stud, owned by St John Gray who performs an outstanding achievement of breeding, owning and training for himself – and in most cases, the horses bred are by / out of parents bred, trained and owned by St John himself – including Call To Combat.

Ronnie’s Candy was a numerous nominee and will definitely be in the running for an award next year, but Dawn Assault cleaned up taking Champion Older Male and Champion Middle Distance Male. St John Gray was rewarded with Breeders Achievement, and MC Warren Lenferna read out his staggering stats. Cathy and Jonathan Martin represented Graystone – they look after St John’s breeding operation within theirs at their farm in Mooi River, Hadlow Stud.

St John’s stats are incredible – according to Racebook.co.za, he is currently on 999 wins, R79,286,907 in lifetime stakes earned with 2 914 places. Even more impressive is that St John has raced and bred most of his horses parents as well so to speak – it truly is a massive achievement.

The Late Crusade captured KZN Breeders Stallion Of The Year again (Sponsored by the TBA), and on Sunday his diminutive daughter Whizz Of Odds gave Gavin Van Zyl a large smile, after winning both of her races in a row. She is bred by Rob Knupper of the Missing U Syndicate.

Other awards for special recognition went to two very well deserving recipients – Dr Allen Bechard received the Anita Akal Industry Award for his years of servicing the breeding industry in KZN, and Bruce Le Roux of Spring Valley Stud was emotional when he heard he was receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award and received a full standing ovation from his peers and colleagues. Warwick Render, his friend and colleague, read a moving speech on the life of Bruce Le Roux (who amongst his Gr1 winners bred, was Vodacom Durban July winner Dunford) and his achievements, hardly leaving a dry eye in the room.

Rathmor Stud enjoyed a superb day – their filly Mississippi Burning flew the flag to win the Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas, and Nexus took home Champion 3YO Colt. The full brother to Gr1 winner Lady In Black will be aimed at the Cape features, the Snaith Racing Stable has reported on their social media.

Champion Breeders once again went to Summerhill Stud, who also took home two awards – one for Champion Sprinter Male – Africa Rising, and the other for Running Brave (Brave Tin Soldier). They also accepted the award for Stallion Prospect, multiple Black Type filly Brandina shot her sire Capetown Noir into the highlights for the last season.

All the awards named below – thank you to our valued sponsors for your generosity!

Raised at Cathy and Jonathan Martin’s Hadlow Stud in Mooi River for St John’s Graystone Stud, the chestnut is out of Jet Master mare Bennie And the Jets. Ronnie’s Candy has a Mogok half-sister (2yo) who has just entered pretraining, and her dam has a yearling by Bezrin.

Cathy reports that unfortunately Bennie and the Jets didn’t have a foal this year, but she is in foal to Potala Palace for the 2020 season.

Ronnies Candy is a nominee at the KZN Breeders upcoming annual Awards, where she is in the category for Champion 3YO Filly and Champion Middle Distance Filly.

Her Race Record is 4 wins and 7 places – including the Gr2 SA Fillies Nursery where she beat Celtic Sea, the Gr3 Starling Stakes where she again beat Celtic Sea and Running Brave, a win at the Vaal before her Gr2 yesterday.

She has also placed in three other Graded Stakes races and has earned R842,775 in stakes.

Congratulations to all concerned!

In other KZN related news, young Klawervlei sire Captain Of All is making a name for himself.

The Gr1 winning son of Captain Al looks to be taking the baton from his champion sire. He is out of a #kznbred Fard mare Serious Side, who was bred by Robert Smith. His son Shango won the Gr2 Dingaans yesterday for trainer Sean Tarry. Captain Of All was the leading juvenile sire this past season by Stakes Earned.

The KZN Breeders Awards took place on Saturday evening at Fordoun and saw Gr1 winning filly and Triple Tiara contender Takingthepeace crowned KZN Breeders Horse Of The Year.

The Awards fell on the same day as the Summer Cup and saw #kznbreds Africa Rising win the Gr2 Merchants, whilst two other second places in two Graded Races from #kznbreds were achieved. Warren Lenferna explained that the venue had to be booked a year in advance due to wedding season in the KZN Midlands summer, and the Summer Cup had been moved unexpectedly into December.

Champion breeders Summerhill Stud dominated the categories, taking home 11 awards which includes Mick Goss, who won the accolade of Lifetime Achievement Award – Mick has singlehandedly put both KZN and South African breeding and racing on the map, and Drakenstein’s Gaynor Rupert paid tribute to Mick at this years Equus Awards for introducing her to the thrill of breeding and owning Thoroughbreds, and encouraged her to establish Drakenstein Stud.

Father and son duo Lee and Dino Scribante featured prominently the juvenile categories, with Carlita and Alfeo in the 2yo respective categories for filly and colt. Alfeo won the Champion 2YO Colt, whilst Carlita was a close second to Gr2 winner Ronnie’s Candy – the latter one of two nominees for owner / trainer / breeder St John Gray, whose breeding establishment is managed at Cathy and Jonathan Martin’s Hadlow Stud. The other nominee was the sharp Dawn Assault, who ran second by a whisker to Tilbury Fort in the Gr1 Summer Cup on Saturday.

Two Gr1 winners were amongst the nominees – each Summerhill breds – Hero’s Honour and Takingthepeace.

Hero’s Honour gave his owner Laurence Wernars his first Gr1 winner, whilst Takingthepeace won the Gr1 SA Fillies Classic and the Gr2 Gauteng Fillies Guineas. In the process she took two legs of the Triple Tiara, and ran fourth in the third leg. Hero’s Honour took home Champion 3YO Colt and Champion Stayer (for both sexes), whilst Takingthepeace took Champion 3YO Filly, Champion Middle Distance Filly and Horse Of The Year.

Galileo mare Grail Maiden, one of the best broodmare prospects in the country, took home the Broodmare Of The Year honours – she had two of her progeny nominated – the first being Gr1 winner Hero’s Honour, the second Gr1 placed Railtrip.

Other Summerhill-breds to feature were Champagne Haze, who runs in the colours of Laurence Wernars. The brave Kahal gelding won both Champion Sprinter Male and Champion Older Horse, whilst the well-bred staying filly Witchcraft won the Champion Older Female.

Clifton Stud had a great evening, with Covered In Snow winning Champion Sprinter Filly, and their new sire for 2018, Crusade (and the sire of Covered In Snow), was elected as Stallion Of The Year after producing 4 Stakes winners for the 2017 / 2018 season and a lifetime statistic of 45% winners to runners.

Scott Bros were not forgotten, with their game Gr1 placed Toreador gelding Matador Man taking Champion Middle Distance Colt.

Special Awards went to Piemonte Stud who won Breeders Achievement Of The Year, based on the performances of Carlita and Alfeo, whilst KZN Breeders Club secretary Candiese Marnewick won the Anita Akal Industry Award.

Newcomer to the world of Thoroughbred breeding, Nothemba Mlonzi was honoured at the start of the evening – her first two horses bred at her Mwetwood Stud – Master Keys and Galaxy Tunes, both won in their first racing season.

Nothemba is also the first Black lady to sell a horse at the National Yearling Sale which was Master Keys for R100 000 to Nathan Kotzen. The #kznbred Master Of My Fate filly in turn gave Nathan his first career win as a trainer in his own name.

It was a fantastic evening at Fordoun with a full house, and thank you to the enthusiastic support of our sponsors and to Gold Circle with their backing of the evening, sponsorship and TV Production. Warren Lenferna debuted as Master of Ceremonies and Chairman Bruce Le Roux once again gave an inspiring speech about why KZN is the best place to breed a Thoroughbred.

A big thank you to all who attended and made the evening a particularly special event, which ended after midnight and even saw Robin Scott jiving at midnight!

The full results can be viewed here: 

KZN is having a great season with two Gr1 winners amongst our Stakes Winners this season, and three of our #kznbreds walked away with Awards – including two out of three Triple Tiara winner, Takingthepeace.

Owner, trainer and breeder St John Gray was rewarded for his smart Gr2 SA Fillies Nursery winner, Ronnie’s Candy by King Of Kings, won Champion 2YO Filly, whilst Takingthepeace took the Award for Champion 3YO Filly.

The daughter of Visionaire was bred by Summerhill Stud and has recently been bought into by the Kieswetter’s of Highlands, Part Of Ridgemont. The Sporting Post reported an updated on Takingthepeace from Mathew De Kock.

“Everybody wants to know what is happening to near SA Triple Tiara heroine, Takingthepeace, who was scratched from the July.

“She’s currently having a well deserved rest and Highlands-Ridgemont’s Ross and Craig Kieswetter have bought in and will race her with Murray Makepeace and Michael Shea. It is great to have more young dynamic owners in the yard. She will also be a top-class addition to the powerful Highlands broodmare ranks one day,” said Mathew.

It was a Gr1 double for Summerhill Stud, who also boast that they sold three Gr1 winners off the 2016 CTS Ready To Run Sale – Brave Mary (bred by Rupert Plersch), Hero’s Honour and Takingthepeace, but it was Hero’s Honour that took the Award for Champion Stayer last night, after winning the Gr1 SA Derby.

Another horse to be mentioned is Attenborough, who was bred in partnership by Pippa Mickelburgh and KZN Breeders Ian Todd and Keith Russon. He won the award for Champion Sprinter.

Both Ronnie’s Candy and Attenborough will be racing at Gold Circle’s Speed Festival on Saturday at Scottsville, sponsored by Tsogo Sun.

Congratulations to the winning breeders and connections on an outstanding result!

Images: JC Photos

Larry Wainstein, CEO of The Racing Association and Clyde Basel, Racing Executive of Phumelela, will be hosts in the Aquanaut Room at Turffontein Racecourse on Wednesday 23 May for the RA Highveld Feature Season Awards.

Five KZN-breds feature prominently – see the #kznbreds highlighted in BOLD ITALICS below.

The nominees:

Champion two year old filly:

Celtic Sea; Dagmar; RONNIE’S CANDY

Champion two year old colt/gelding:

Bold Eagle; William the Silent

Champion three year old filly:

Folk Dance; Green Plains; Secret Potion; TAKINGTHEPEACE

Champion 3 year old colt/gelding:

HERO’S HONOUR; Lobo’s Legend; Monkshood; Surcharge

Champion older horse:

Attenborough, Coral Fever; Legal Eagle; Liege; Nother Russia

Champion sprinter:

Attenborough; Pinnacle Peak; Tandava; THE THINKER

Champion Middle distance horse:

Coral Fever; Legal Eagle; Monkshood; Nother Russia

Champion Stayer:

Fortissima; HERO’S HONOUR; JUST CRUISED IN; Let it Rain; Secret Potion.

The above nominees are eligible for the much sought-after Horse of the Season Award and there will also be the special awards to industry players that have made, and continue to make, worthwhile contributions to this amazing industry.